Kyle and I are sitting in the airport here in Seattle, ready to head back to Los Angeles, so I thought I’d write soem of my thoughts about our stay (thanks to the free WiFi, good call Seattle Airport). We’ve been here since Wednesday and overall we had a really great trip, and Seattle is really unique city with a lot of great food, plenty of beautiful architecture and lots of sights to see. I’ve heard a lot of people compare the city to Portland, which might be true in some respects, but if it is true, Seattle would be Portland’s older brother.

When we arrived it was pretty rainy and mildly gloomy, but we were welcomed by a beautiful room at the Ace Hotel. I haven’t stayed in an Ace before, though I’ve visited the lobbies in both Portland and New York. I think Kyle summed up the Ace in Seattle quite while, it’s like a fancy hostel. There are two kinds of rooms, ones with bathrooms, and ones without. The ones without have access to communal bathrooms, though he and I opted out of that. Our room though was simple and beautiful. We had a corner room and the light that spilled inside was fantastic. It also had a bed that I dubbed ‘human trap’ as it was perfect for nap taking. My only complaints would be the toilet paper and towels, which felt cheap and scratchy, and the lack of easily accessible outlets for charging our devices. I’m a stickler for details.

The town itself was really easy to manage. Seattle was pretty walkable, we only took cabs late at night when we’d go out for dinner and drinks. We also discovered a lot of neat places while walking as well. After grabbing some coffee and tea at Stumptown, we wandered along until discovering the Melrose Market. Inside we discovered two amazing places, Rain Shadow Meats and The Calf & Kid. We’re both big on meats and cheeses, and these places had not only great service, but a great selection as well.

There’s also lots of interesting places to see, I’m sure we missed out on plenty. We managed to see the Space Needle, the Fremont Troll under Auroura Bridge, the Seattle Public Library designed by OMA and Bruce Mau, and of course, Pike’s Fish Market. I think overall though, my favorite thing was all the great places to eat and drink. Seattle’s food culture is astounding.

If you’ve been curious about visiting Seattle, I’d certainly suggest it. If you do plan on going, I’d suggest checking out this Google Map of Seattle I put together thanks to reader suggestions. It certainly informed a lot of our decisions.